In its simplest form, good governance is responsive to the basic, legitimate and essential needs of the governed. In tight fiscal circumstances it also requires judicious decision-making on spending priorities. PPP/C governments since 1992 have undoubtedly made good decisions on spending but they have also made many bad ones.
It does boggle the mind that 17 years after it took office, the PPP/C has not seen it fit to improve the means of transport of Guyanese to and from the northwest. This omission is now starkly evident in light of the floating bridge over the Berbice River. Two weeks ago, the MV Kimbia limped into Port Georgetown on one engine, one day late and with passengers relating stories of the travails of the passage from the northwest. The accounts made available to this newspaper on the conditions aboard the ferry sounded more like time capsule material from decades ago.
On Friday, the Kimbia set off again for the northwest and nothing had improved. The ferry left four hours late because of a problem with the loading of goods. It appeared to be working on one engine only – though the T&HD has since said it left with the full use of all of its engines – and in its departure it managed to hit another vessel. On board, the scene was one of absolute chaos and squalor which the people who travel to and from the northwest should not have to endure.
People ran helter-skelter on board, the vessel was packed to capacity, space could hardly be found and there was already a stench from the toilet areas even though the journey had not yet begun. Room also had to be found for a casket with the remains of a loved one who was being transported to the northwest for burial. The scene had all of the elements of pioneering expeditions by desperate people to unexplored parts and not a routine ferry service in modern-day Guyana.
The present state of the Kimbia poses a danger to life and limb and considering the cramped, cheek-by-jowl conditions on board can also pose risks of contagion. Bearing in mind the recent deaths from gastro-like illnesses in the northwest, it is not something that should be taken lightly.
To dwell on why ferries that are 40 and more years old are still in the service of the Transport and Harbours Department would be a difficult question to answer as this government has frittered away money on projects that have white elephant characteristics, especially when ranged against the pressing needs of the thousands who have to make the northwest trip and cannot afford air transportation.
The same money that was loaned to the proprietors of the Buddy’s and Casique hotels could have worked wonderfully well for the purchase of several ferries for the northwest run and up the Berbice River. The money that was used to prepare the site in Kingston for what will undoubtedly go down as the phantom hotel could have been employed in the interest of the residents of the northwest. Surely the lotto funds should have been earmarked for well-deserved expenditure such as the northwest ferry. Not to mention the grand cricket stadium whose major use these days is as a venue of entertainment of varied quality. The cost of building that stadium could have relieved many of the daily privations of thousands of poor Guyanese, the needs of whom the PPP repeatedly says it champions. Ironically, it should be recalled that a northwest resident, Mary Sandy lived a stone’s throw from this behemoth at Providence in abject poverty with four young ones and an abusive husband, only to die in a horrible road accident not far from it. How many times might she not have glanced up at this edifice and wondered how her life might have been improved with a little state help?
There can be no reasonable excuse for the government to ignore the cries of the people of the northwest. The ferries for this run and others should have been purchased a long time ago and the people allowed to travel in reasonable comfort.
Here is another need that the government has shamelessly dilly-dallied with. Nearly three weeks ago Mrs Salimoon Rahaman’s 10 year-old son, Jainarine disappeared in the Essequibo River following an accident that increasingly comes across as a sinister cover-up. Jainarine’s father and another man also died in the accident and their post-mortem examinations yielded troubling results. Despite the initial reports that robbery appeared to be the motive for the hit-and-run riverine accident the law enforcement authorities were completely uninterested. Not the police force, the coastguard or the Maritime Administration Department was interested in probing this matter and heeding the plaintive cries of Mrs Rahaman.
They have however been forced to take action following the ghastly murder of Mr Dweive Kant Ramdass allegedly at the hands of coastguardsmen. Still, the law enforcement authorities have adopted the nonchalant approach which has infused major investigations such as the one at Lindo Creek. No urgency is evident. There is now a real possibility that rogue coastguardsmen could have been involved in the earlier attack in which two men died and the child remains missing. Up to now, neither the police nor MARAD has come up with an alternative theory for what happened to this boat. Moreover, there are two tantalizing leads which the authorities must confront. First, the shattered boat now carries traces of paint which is similar in colour to that used by the GDF coastguard boat. The evidence is on videotape and paint flecks are on the remains of the boat. The flecks could be forensically tested against the suspect boat if the government is serious about investigating this matter. Of course, there could be no role for the coastguard or army in this investigation.
Second, it has been alleged that the suspect boat was out of circulation for several days after the hit-and-run attack. If so, the hierarchy of the coastguard and the army should be able to explain to the public whether this is so. The coastguard and the army have both taken a severe blow to their credibility and believability following the murder of Mr Ramdass. They should do nothing to deepen this distrust.
The northwest ferry and the hit-and-run accident constitute good governance tests that the entire country can judge this administration on.